Gregg Popovich has begun taking advantage of any opportunities to rest his veteran stars as the regular season winds down.

The spiraling Philadelphia 76ers might have liked their chances more if the San Antonio Spurs coach hadn't done that in his previous game.

With Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili likely back on the floor for the league-leading Spurs, the 76ers will try to avoid moving within one of tying the NBA record for consecutive losses Monday night in San Antonio - a city they have rarely left with a victory.

Philadelphia (15-55) continued limping toward history Saturday with its 24th straight loss, 91-81 in Chicago. The 76ers moved ahead of the Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-96), Denver (1997-98) and Charlotte (2011-12) for the league's second-longest single-season slide.

Two more losses stand between the Sixers and the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers, who dropped 26 in a row to set the NBA mark. With its next two in San Antonio and Houston - a combined 54-15 at home - the odds are not looking good for Philadelphia.

"There's a win in this group," said coach Brett Brown, who spent the previous seven seasons as a Spurs assistant under Popovich. "We will continue to fight and continue to stay together. I'm just thrilled, I'm proud of their ability, their character, to stay together in what's clearly difficult times."

The 76ers are facing those two Texas teams in back-to-back games for the second time this season. Six Spurs scored in double figures in a 109-85 rout at Philadelphia on Nov. 11 before the Sixers beat the Rockets 123-117 in overtime two nights later.

If Philadelphia drops both games on its swing through the Lone Star state, it will return home to face Detroit on Saturday with a dubious distinction looming.

"We're learning to play better with each other," Sims said. "We're learning to make better decisions down the stretch. We're growing right now, and that's the main focus right now. The games we have left, we want to keep growing."

One of the more dispiriting elements of this matchup for the 76ers is their history in San Antonio, where they've gone 2-26 since 1984. Philadelphia has dropped nine straight there dating to its last win Jan. 3, 2004. Oddly enough, that loss ended a 13-game win streak for the Spurs, who enter this contest in an identical situation.

San Antonio (53-16), winner of five straight overall against the 76ers, continued its impressive surge with a 99-90 victory at Golden State on Saturday.

With Duncan, who turns 38 in April, and the 36-year-old Ginobili getting some much-needed rest in the second game of a back-to-back, Tony Parker scored 20 points and Danny Green added 18 to help San Antonio extend its longest run of the season.

"Everybody stepped up," Parker said. "When somebody's not playing, it's just other guys who will do it. And we trust each other."

Tiago Splitter added 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs, who haven't won 14 in a row since a franchise-record 17-game run Feb. 29-March 31, 1996. The number seems to be 13 for San Antonio, which has had four win streaks of that many games since.

After closing their 3-0 trip against the Warriors, the Spurs return home trying to extend their winning streak in San Antonio to 10. Their most recent home loss came on the same day the 76ers earned their last victory in late January.

The Sixers have no interest in winning any more games this years. Figure Pop to give Tim and Manu some tune-up minutes and to use the rest of the game to work out the Foreign Legion and maybe to see if Daye can provide any help this year.

Patty looked like a raw chucker the other night, so it'd be good to see him get his stroke back. I wouldn't mind seeing Joseph run the point for extended minutes.

From my reading, Brett Brown has all of these young players thinking positive and professional even through all of the adversity imposed by the tanking owners so I would imagine that each time they hit the court, that it is with the intention of winning.

Iím kind of torn on this one. Philly comes in here having lost 24 straight with one of our own at the helm in Coach Brett Brown. No team wants to be the one to end a terrible streak like this but what do the Spurs do tonight: go full strength, play professionally, get a big lead and let the bench finish the game or does Pop rest some of his main players, play the remaining few and go for the best? Let me play devilís advocate here: What if by resting his main players, the Spurs donít have the firepower to stop a possible good shooting night for the Sixers and they end the streak by beating the Spurs. Could this in all probability be a camouflaged cover up for tanking the game by Pop and maybe throwing a Ďsympathy winí to the Sixers? Could Pop do that? Thatís a question thatís been gnawing at me all weekend. I know itís showing a lack of reverence toward the Spurs, blasphemy if you will, to think that way and thatís why Iím torn. I say play professionally and rest the players as they go. What do you think?

__________________If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you. If you cannot afford a doctor, tough sh*t bud.

Not to be so obvious if something like that were to happen. I don't know if Pop could stoop to something like that, giving a former assistant a win, just to end the torment Coach Brown must be getting from the press, let alone the Philly fans. I think I read too many mystery/thriller novels, so in my mind I'm thinking what if or would they do that type of thing. And I tend to ramble on..........

__________________If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you. If you cannot afford a doctor, tough sh*t bud.